[qwerty49]

I've been pondering similar thoughts about Wilson and about why things went well when Lacie was in.  I know +/- can be misleading.  That said, I do believe in this case there is something to it, for the reasons you lay out.  I don't think pg by committee is necessarily bad.  I do think it is not great when the committee consists of players who are out of their usual and more natural positions.  Jones can bring the ball up, but much better if she only does so when she gets a rebound and goes, not when she is trying to run the offense.  She can score and create much better when she gets the ball in the flow of the offense, not when she herself is the initiator.  Same for Lexie who did score well in this game, and did not bring the ball up all that much, but really shouldn't need to be handling the ball as much as she did far from the basket trying to work the offense into shape.  The team stood around too much, and maybe that was early game lack of offensive flow, or maybe it was also somewhat due to people trying to initiate the offense who are not really suited to doing that.

I do think we need more from Wilson as a 6th year player.  No doubt she is more comfortable in the role she had last year.  She is a capable shooter and decent driver, however, and came in as a point guard, I believe.  My hope for her before this season was that she would work hard on her offense and other pg skills and take over the position early on.  Maybe that will yet happen.  My other hope was for Van Gytenbeek to emerge as our pg, either starter or backup to Wilson.  I retain some hope that it was just her relative lack of experience vs a high pressure team like Texas that kept her on the bench and that she will be groomed for more playing time as the season goes on.  

To my mind it is much better to leave all the other players at their natural positions and take whatever we can get from our true point guards, which would be Wilson and Van Gytenbeek mostly, with some help from Hamilton (she was not Northwestern's primary pg for most of her career I believe and it is hard for someone to come in as a new player, learn our system quickly and run the team anyway) and Lacie, who at least played the position some before college.  Jones and Lexie should be doing what they did last year basically, as far as helping with ball handling.  Unless they feel Van Gytenbeek and Wilson are not up to the job now and won't be in the future (gulp!), the simplest and hopefully best long term solution is to let Wilson and Van Gytenbeek run the point, live with their mistakes, even if it costs a game or two early on., and let them learn.  I mean what they chose already resulted in a loss, so...

Excellent points, chimera.  I almost think you answered your own question.  If staff was that comfortable with Wilson and VanG running the show, I don't think they would be looking for a Nicole Powell type of mismatch by having Jones or a Hull bring the ball up court.  And Brown is another question mark.

But it's only game 2, as others have noted, so I guess we see what happens in the next few months.  It's obvious that with 17 players on the roster that playing time will be hard to find for everyone.

[qwerty49]

I've been pondering similar thoughts about Wilson and about why things went well when Lacie was in.  I know +/- can be misleading.  That said, I do believe in this case there is something to it, for the reasons you lay out.  I don't think pg by committee is necessarily bad.  I do think it is not great when the committee consists of players who are out of their usual and more natural positions.  Jones can bring the ball up, but much better if she only does so when she gets a rebound and goes, not when she is trying to run the offense.  She can score and create much better when she gets the ball in the flow of the offense, not when she herself is the initiator.  Same for Lexie who did score well in this game, and did not bring the ball up all that much, but really shouldn't need to be handling the ball as much as she did far from the basket trying to work the offense into shape.  The team stood around too much, and maybe that was early game lack of offensive flow, or maybe it was also somewhat due to people trying to initiate the offense who are not really suited to doing that.

I do think we need more from Wilson as a 6th year player.  No doubt she is more comfortable in the role she had last year.  She is a capable shooter and decent driver, however, and came in as a point guard, I believe.  My hope for her before this season was that she would work hard on her offense and other pg skills and take over the position early on.  Maybe that will yet happen.  My other hope was for Van Gytenbeek to emerge as our pg, either starter or backup to Wilson.  I retain some hope that it was just her relative lack of experience vs a high pressure team like Texas that kept her on the bench and that she will be groomed for more playing time as the season goes on.  

To my mind it is much better to leave all the other players at their natural positions and take whatever we can get from our true point guards, which would be Wilson and Van Gytenbeek mostly, with some help from Hamilton (she was not Northwestern's primary pg for most of her career I believe and it is hard for someone to come in as a new player, learn our system quickly and run the team anyway) and Lacie, who at least played the position some before college.  Jones and Lexie should be doing what they did last year basically, as far as helping with ball handling.  Unless they feel Van Gytenbeek and Wilson are not up to the job now and won't be in the future (gulp!), the simplest and hopefully best long term solution is to let Wilson and Van Gytenbeek run the point, live with their mistakes, even if it costs a game or two early on., and let them learn.  I mean what they chose already resulted in a loss, so...

Excellent points, chimera.  I almost think you answered your own question.  If staff was that comfortable with Wilson and VanG running the show, I don't think they would be looking for a Nicole Powell type of mismatch by having Jones or a Hull bring the ball up court.  And Brown is another question mark.

But it's only game 2, as others have noted, so I guess we see what happens in the next few months.  It's obvious that with 17 players on the roster that playing time will be hard to find for everyone.